Las Mariposas Clinic: Costa Del Quackery

Watching the antics of quacks is funny and I hope some of that humour comes across on this blog. Sometimes, however, humour just appears to be so misplaced. Las Mariposas Clinic, in Torremolinos, Malaga, Spain, is a clinic that offers homeopathic and nutritional cures for cancer. They promise,

“Unique methods that induce the natural remission of cancer and other illnesses”

Nothing about this is likely to be funny. The clinic was brought to my attention by an email. Simon wrote,

A friend of mine recently passed-away from cancer. Unfortunately she had decided to turn away from conventional medicine and seek some alternative interventions.

She was a regular visitor to spain and heard from other expats about the “las Mariposas clinic in malaga. Like all other alternative”specialists” they took advantage of her desperation to live and said they could treat her. The hospital bills costs thousands and I am convinced they added to her suffering and pain.

So, a little investigation appeared to be entirely justified. The clinic has several English language websites and appears to be well targeted at either the ex-pat community (half a million Brits in Spain). A directory web site tells us,

Their fee for cancer therapy and counseling is 10,000 Euros, which provides all homeopathic medicine that could be needed, consultation and treatment, HLB – high blood resolution analysis to allow them to tailor their approach to your specific endogenic (immune) status and hormonal needs, EAP (Electro-Acupuncture) treatment, and Dr. Budwig’s protocol (They claim to be the only ones in the world to be trained and authorized by Dr. Johanna Budwig). This is a once in a life time payment. However, additional herbs, vitamins and minerals that are needed are not included in the consultation fee. Depending on the type of cancer and how advanced it is, it could cost an additional $200 to $300 the first month. The recommended stay is a minimum of two weeks.

So, what do you get for your 10,000 Euros?

Well, first of all, you are offered “very accurate diagnosis”. Mariposas offers a number of techniques as they claim,

“One size fits all” is the approach that many take in treating death dealing cancer, almost everyone gets the same prescription. Not so at our clinic! Las Mariposas clinic takes into account that each human body is unique with its own set of DNA and its own particular level of endogenic defenses. No two people are alike when it comes to personality and the same is often true of our state of health and in how our body reacts to different therapies.

To gain this unique diagnosis, the clinic says it uses a number of techniques. The first is,

HLB (High-Resolution Blood) analysis. What is HLB? Well, most laboratories will magnify a blood sample up to 1,200 times and then work with these results. However by using a HLB microscope we are able to magnify a fresh and a dry blood sample up to 18,000 times its normal size.

Wow. If they have achieved optical magnifications of 18,000 times then they have made the most significant breakthrough in optical microscopy ever. Diffraction in microscopes optical systems limit resolutions to approximately 1,500 times. Secondly, they apply a microscopy technique called ‘Dark Field Analysis’ which removes background light from the image. How all this improved diagnosis is not made clear. The ‘Enderlin’ technique has at least one paper written on it that concludes,

Dark field micoroscopy does not seem to reliably detect the presence of cancer. Clinical use of the method can therefore not be recommended until future studies are conducted.

This all sounds like a lot of pseudoscience designed to impress prospective customers. Just to confirm this, they also say that they apply “Energetic Frequency Testing” which involves homeopathy and ‘holistic kinesiology‘ to improve diagnosis. I can’t help feeling they are making it up as they go along.

So, when you have your improved diagnosis, what do Mariposas do with you? It’s a right ragbag of ideas…

A masterful portfolio of quackery, if ever I have seen one. There is too much going on in this clinic to tackle it all in one blog post.

Who is behind this clinic? There are no names on the web sites – something that ought to set off alarm bells. If this clinic was operating in Britain, it would undoubtedly be breaking the law. Being in Spain, and offering an English language service, nicely sidesteps this troublesome issue. Malaga is a short £40 flight away. What is also most noticeable is that the way in which homeopathy is described would flout the conduct codes of most homeopathic registrars in the UK. Now I know, they do not enforce their code of conducts, but neither do organisations like the Society of Homeopaths speak out and warn people about the dangers of such clinics. Their complicit silence is damning.

I asked Simon, the original correspondant, what he knew. He said,

The director of the clinic is a Dr Raymond Hilu. My friend consulted with this guy over a few months and he regularly told her that he had never lost a patient.

Hilu is difficult to track down. A number of other names crop up. The cottage cheese diet ideas appear to originate from a Dr. Johanna Budwig of Germany who appears to offer her own cancer curing protocol and be associated with the clinic.

How do people fall for this? I guess it is difficult to know how you would respond if you had a life threatening illness and that your doctors were struggling to manage it and may even be telling you that your choices are limited. To see a glimmer of hope in people who tell you that there are more ‘natural and better’ ways of dealing with serious illness, must be compelling. Hope is so important. If all that stands in your way of saving your own life is 10,000 Euros then it must appear to be very cheap.

And the Mariposas clinic does offer a money back guarantee. How could you go wrong? I asked Simon what he thought about this guarantee,

I don’t think either my friend, or the family, requested any money back. For several reasons I suppose: my friend died, the family just wanted to move on, the family didn’t know their legal rights regarding getting money back etc…

As I indicated in my original email, until directly observing the experience of my friend I didn’t realise how unscrupulous and dangerous these people are. The clinic has been operating for a number of years…they simply must know their treatments don’t work.

It is also likely that if conventional treatment is also been followed, then any remission, temporary or not, will be seen as proof that the clinic is doing what it says it can do. And as the web site contains no terms and conditions to this offer, it would have to be taken with a pinch of salt. Who would actually decide if an improvement had been made? The persons GP? The Mariposa Clinic. I am sure we can guess.

I shall leave the last words to Simon,

I have always regarded alternative medicine as, by and large, quackery. However, I did not think they did that much damage. This view has now changed.

Andy, I have learned a lot from this experience. That people’s desperation leads them to try anything and that alternative therapists abuse this despair for financial gain. The most important lesson is that I now firmly believe that doctors, nurses and consultants could do a much better job when they are counselling patients who are diagnosed as terminal. Granted doctors, nurses and consultants cannot offer hope as the alternative therapists can, but they could communicate how such treatments have no scientific support and are ineffective. Most importantly they should communicate that alternative treatments more often than not place an unnecessary monetary burden on patients and their family…

Yes, and this would be much easier if homeopaths and their ilk did not routinely undermine the authority and respect due to the medical profession. Their shrill shrieks that homeopaths do no harm is just not tenable.

83 Comments on Las Mariposas Clinic: Costa Del Quackery

Anyone practicing homeopathy in Spain must be a qualified medical doctor(1), therefore either this clinic is operating illegally or else it should be subject to oversight by the Spanish medical regulator.

It would be interesting to find out if there are any other similar stories relating to this clinic.

Interesting story. I’ve been poking around in my local expat community and it seems there are similar, though less outrageous, goings on. I’m currently looking into the regulation and am making some enquiries.

I’ve been doing a spot of googling on Dr Raymond Hilu. According to this spanish alt medicine site he indeed works at the Mariposas clinic and is an expert in alternative cancer therapy having been nominated for 7 Nobel prizes.wacr.es/wacr.htmStrangely he looks identical to a Dr Raymond Hilu who’s an expert in natural beauty treatments and writes for this magazinethebeautymagazine.com/csqa.html(scroll down on the left), and runs his own beauty clinic – the Hilu Instituteyourmarbella.com/hiluinstituremarbella/default.aspx“this centre reduces the entire appearance of ageing to give dynamically youthful results without the need of surgery”So not only can Dr Raymond cure your cancer he can also make you gorgeous too, all using natural stuff, what a nice man.

Anyone who describes themselves as being ‘nominated’ for a nobel prize deserves a lot of scrutiny and scepticism. The nobel committee does not declare nominations – this is not the oscars. Anyone can nominate anyone. I have nominated my cat twelve times. So far the Nobel committee has ignored me. Much like they must have ignored Hilu. You can find plenty of quacks on the web who make similar claims about being ‘nominated’.

I WANT TO RESPOND TO ALL YOU CLOSED MINDED,UNBELIEVABLE PEOPLE WHO POOPOO ANYTHING NEW THEY DONT UNDERSTAND. I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU. MY HUSBAND AND I HAVE SPENT 2 WEEKS AT THIS CLINIC. WE FOUND THE STAFF AND THE DOCTOR TO BE KIND, CARING AND MOST CERTAINLY NOT A MONEY MONGER.I WAS DIANOSED WITH LYME DISEASE 6 YEARS AGO AND ALMOST DIED, YOUR SO CALLED PROVEN MEDICINE FAILED TO HELP ME. I SPENT $265,000 AND STILL NO CURE! NO REMISSION,I HAD A TUMOR ON MY BREAST, UTERUS AND OVARY,MY VISION WAS FAILING. I SPENT 2 WEEKS- 3 HRS A DAY DOING VARIOUS TREATMENTS AT THIS CLINIC,SPENT ONLY $6000. THIS TYPE OF TREATMENT AND SERVICE WOULD HAVE BEEN $100,000 OR MORE IN THE U.S. I HAVE MY LIFE BACK!TUMORS ARE GONE, LYME UNDETECTABLE,AND I CAN READ WITHUOT GLASSES. QUACK?? THEY WOULD BE ALL THE ‘U.S. DOCTORS’ STEALING MY MONEY ON THEIR MEDICAL TREATMENTS THAT DID NOTHING BUT MAKE ME SICKER.YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED PRINTING THINGS FROM HERESAY WHEN YOU HAVE NO TRUTH TO BACKUP YOUR STATEMENTS…(UNLESS YOU CONSIDER JOE BLOW FROM THE WATER COOLER AT WORK OR YOUR BEST FRIENDS NEIGHBORS UNCLES GIRLFRIEND A GOOD RELIABLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION) I AM THE PROOF. THIS WILL PROBABLY NOT GET POSTED ANYWAY…..

I doubt every word of your so called ‘letter of praise’ about the mariposas clinic. There is no clinic in Malaga! If you were there, you would have stayed private in a hotel and with any luck Dr Hilu might have visited you if he could manage it.

I can only agree,
I have to my sorrow lost a couple of dear friends and family members to cancer. however, I have more survivors of cancer having treated by alternative method then with chemo.
one of my friends died last week, I am happy to say of old age (81)! he had been diagnosed with cancer and given 1 to 3 month to live! this was 26 years ago. he did not take chemo but got alternative treatment and did very well by his decision.
also: I never heard of getting money back from a normal hospital.
any ideas how much it costs getting chemo? ever heard of someone getting his money back ? think about it,…..
Karin

Dr Hilu treated my 6 years old daughter for epilepsy after two years of ‘traditional medicine’ left her almost a vegetable, unable to speak coherently, falling down all the time, unable to even think. After six months of his therapy she was able to stop taking Depakin, and since then she has improved daily until she is ostensibly normal. I say ostensibly because until she has been epilepsy free for 2 years, traditional medicine will not accept that she is cured. I have found Hilu honest, not profit motivated and certainly NOT a quack. He’s simply a full MD turned naturopath; who decided to start dealing with the causes rather than treat their symptoms.

I have been diagnosed with Nasal Papillary Adenocarsinoma (recurrent) and am working with ENT specialists and the Stanford Cancer Center (again) to deal with my disease. I had become weak, lethargic, and suffered from fatigue (not a good thing). While taking tests and waiting for surgery I decided to poke around to see if there was anything else I could do for myself. Fear of dying does this to me… 🙂

I found many outlandish claims for cures for everything on the internet. Much of the support for the “positive outcomes associated with such things” is in the form of personal experience -theirs, or someone else’s (antidotal). I am certainly not going to challenge the positive impact of dietary supplements, meditation, self-help books, clinics or programs or anything at all which might deliver a benefit. And, I frankly don’t care if it is the “placebo effect” which is at work. Hey: if it works, it works!

We can, we do, and we SHOULD report our own experience. If something works or does not work for you, say what it is and why you think so.

But, regard with healthy suspicion any material which purports to offer a radically effective outcome. And, regard with healthy (and polite) suspicion any individual who appears to present a special knowledge or expertise. Take what you can use, and leave the rest behind. One of the reasons many of us look for alternatives, after all, is that so very little seems to have helped and, if nothing else, we wish to know that we are not alone in our quest to overcome our disorder. What has helped more than anything else, in my observation, is reading about how others have found relief -even an escape- and understanding what others have done that could apply to me too…

When I cam across the Budwig Protocol I approached it with a bit of skepticism. What I eventually came to like about it was that it was based completely on good food of which the Flaxseed Oil and Cottage Cheese was only a small part of the Protocol. I decided to give it a try as I felt the change in diet would be good for me since I had an upcoming surgery in the works I wanted to improve on my strength.

After three weeks of raw vegetables, good spring water, and the Flaxseed Oil mixed with cultured low-fat cottage cheese my energy returned and as I continued with my new program for the next 4 weeks my energy level continued to climb. I now work out at the gym and walk a couple of miles each day. In short I got my life back plus much more… Hey: if it works, it works!

As for my tumor I haven’t noticed any measureable improvement. I still get nose bleeds from time to time and suffer from nasal blockage due to the tumor. But, I feel better both physically and emotionally. My antidotal story regarding the Bugwig Protocol is a positive one even if I can’t claim to be curred and I have achieved my goal which was to be better prepared for surgery.

Interesting story. I've been poking around in my local expat community and it seems there are similar, though less outrageous, goings on. I'm currently looking into the regulation and am making some inquiries.

Comments of 13th May – I find it disgusting that Mr Black Duck can only find a spiteful comment to make about the obviously traumatic experiences, which are entirely relevant to the debate, shared by the blogger. No matter which side of the debate you take, at least be human about it.

I’m glad that I found a website to post this information.
My dad became ill towards the end of November 2009, he went to the hospital where he was told that he had gall stones. To make a long story short, he was finally diagnosed the end of Dec with pancreatic cancer & passed away on January, 2010 – 3 weeks after being diagnosed. My dad was a healthy man, was never hospitalized prior to this, & was rarely sick with anything in his 60+ yrs. I haven’t had time (or the desire anymore) to research this company/approach for me to form a judgement on it’s legitimacy. My point in posting this is to make others aware of the lack of compassion & empathy from this company. My dad ordered the “at home” package a few days before he was hospitalized & he was in hospital 4 days before passing away. Needless to say, he didn’t have time to use the “cancer guide” or email access to the “doctors”. We tried to get our money ($1200) back, we returned the herbs, etc (which we received days after he’d passed away). They said they would only give us back half of the money since my dad could have emailed them or read the book. Given the situation I could not believe their lack of compassion & want others out there to know the type of company this is. My initial response is that they prey on people with very grim futures & give them hope (false hope maybe) with a very expensive price tag.

Well, maybe you should be better versed in optical microscopy to understand the differences between magnification and resolution.

Resolution refers to the capacity of a sensor to separate two independent points. In optical microscopes, the maximum attainable resolution is 200 nm.

Magnification is an entirely different matter, we simply refer to haw many times we linearly scale up a set of data.

The fundamental magnification of any optical microscope is given for the naked eye at the eyepiece at usually stands between 1200x to 1500x.

Now if at the eyepiece you replace the human eye by an electronic imaging device, most commonly a CCD sensor, you will be able to feed the image directly (or through the apposite computing hardware for further processing) to a video screen.

When your data set lands on the screen, if let’s say the original real size of the object you are observing = 10um, and the size of the object displayed on the screen is zoomed to reach 10 inches, and given that 1 inch = 0.0254 m, you effectively achieved a magnification of (10 x 0.0254) : 0.00001 = 25400x. You want more ? Just use a giant screen…

Doesn’t mean that the 10 inches big object is offering more information than what an human eye sees at the eyepiece, but it is certainly more pleasant, puts less strain on your eyes, and allows to analyze and share in real time the data with multiple researchers.

An open mind and an open heart that is what I see at the Mariposas Clinic. Sadly some cannot see what others cannot. Oh how we need to find a modern Hippocrates to help educate those that may not be able to see…

You forgot to mention that the Budwig Center refunds patients completely (100%) if they do not feel better after treatments. This may be superfulous if the patient is dead, of course, but one’s life and health/treatment are always in one’s own hands

Thanks for your opinion and research on this place. I’ve been searching for “alternative” therapies for my cancer; Chemotherapy helps remove the symptoms, but not the cause I feel. (Although I wear a belt AND suspenders, personally.)

anything is better than resorting to drugs and surgery as your first option for treatment. Cancer is a business in the current medical model and doctors are just raking in the money for procedures not needed.

In our “western” world industrialized countries cancer treatments are generally covered by our government health programs which we pay. The cancer treatment protocols must be stringently enforced by doctors and they are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation and nothing else. All these treatments are very very expensive and you cannot opt out nor doctors have no other options. Chemotherapies are patented by big pharmas and doctor training is often financed by the same pharmaceutical companies. Yet the cancers appear to be caused by what we breath, what we eat and the toxic environments in which we live and our habits such as smoking, drinking and drugs.Nobody has been cured from cancer by surgery, chemotherapy or radiation although we had remissions and partial recoveries. Radiation itself causes “radiation induced angiosarcoma” perhaps the deadliest of all cancers, which appears about 9 years after being radiated for breast or other cancer. All these conventional treatments are palliative, they severely damage immune systems and contribute to great suffering.
Dr. Hilu at least approaches the cancer amongst other by correcting nutrition, vitamin/mineral supplementation, nutrition and heat therapy. None of these are offered by our healthcare systems and no wonder Dr. hilu can say you will feel better. Buy heating pad (adjust to 39.5 C) apply it to cancer affected areas, eat Dr. Budwig diet, eat anti-carcinogenic and organic foods, take supplements to correct deficiencies, exercise if you do not want or can spend 10,000 euros, and I too will say that you will feel better. Good luck.

I’m writing with reference to this debate on alternate treatments for cancer. My wife is diagnosed with ovarian cancer stage four and we are opting for dr hilu Oncothermia instead of chemo. Can we get some information on the authenticity of this place itself in Spain???

What I fail to understand! , please be carefull to Suggesting to Dr Taru acerca Hilu. He is a lier. everybody knows. Why Dr Hilu did not want to give oncotherm to my father, I closed the machine, and the partner had to pick up this, and to install in CMH Clinic in Marbella, my father was looking for it and found it!, We Were to the CMH, my father had the treatment and now my father is Recovering his health. Dr Hilu has jealousy because CMH is competition they make cellular medicine. He is a proud man and thinks only in himself. But we have sick people with us.

I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (cancer of the bone) in October 2012 and my U.S. doctors stated I would need treatment (Chemotherapy) in six months and there was nothing I could do to mitigate this disease. I went to Dr Hilu’s clinic for two weeks in January 2013 and I continue to follow his protocols. My condition has slightly improved and I have not had to have the treatments suggested by my U. S. doctors. I felt the doctors and nurses at the Hilu Clinic were professional and compassionate. I met other cancer patients with advanced cancers during my visit to the clinic and they have experienced similar results. Additionally, I have met and spoken with other patients of Dr Hilu who have experienced reversal of their advanced cancers and continue to be cancer free for up to two years.

I will continue to follow Dr Hilu’s protocols and I’m optimistic I will be cured.

We are all entitled to our opinions and that is what makes the internet and sites like this beneficial. It’s my opinion that the Hilu Clinic is helping people with advanced diseases.

Actually it’s the medical establishment who are making the most financial gain (not the so-called quacks)! Don’t be fooled. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s all a big conspiracy. They’ve probably found a cheap cure for cancer, but that wouldn’t make any money from the big pharmaceutical companies now would it? They make big bucks from the cancer industry and would have you believe that agressive, toxic forms of treatment (such as surgery, chemotherapy) is the only way to go – when it clearly destroys your immune system – the very thing that needs to be strong to fight the cancer.

Whoever wrote this article is either extremely misguided or is being bribed by the pharmaceutical companies!

Wake up and grow up!

EFT has actually helped me enormously with claustrophobia. I can now go in lifts after 30 years of avoidance due to EFT.

And plants/herbs are here on planet earth for a reason – for us to utilise their healing properties.

I agree with Yvonne’s post except for the reference to the medical establishment. I would exclude the doctors and oncologists as part of the problem, but more clearly the pharmaceutical industry as the evil medical establishment. The doctors and oncologists I have met during my battle against cancer are all caring and honest individuals working in a system that restricts their ability to battle cancer with only solutions that have had a clinical trial. Doctors in the US cannot even discuss protocols that have not had a very expensive clinical trial. It’s my opinion that these rules and laws were influenced by special interest groups (supported by the pharmaceutical industry) to keep protocols for cancer patients restricted to chemotherapy. There are other protocols out there, but you will not see clinical trials as nobody can profit from the protocols because they either cant be patented or turned into a pill for sale to substantiate the cost of the clinical trial.

I also agree with Andy, it’s not the doctors or oncologists that are conspiring to poison us, but the evil pharmaceutical industry and our law makers. Last year when I was diagnosed with Cancer I was serving as mayor of my town and frequently dealt with national politicians. I can see how politicians who think they are doing the right thing and taking money from special interest groups (legally) and are influenced to make the wrong decisions. I’m confident the pharmaceutical industry has a cure for cancer, but can’t profit from the solution or the current protocols are more profitable.

All these opinions do make a person think a lot on conventional treatment or alternate. Can we get some proof or real life cases were oncothermia has been treated plus more information on hilu center in Spain????

I am always amazed at the extent to which people are selective about which parts of science they are prepared to accept, always rejecting those parts of the general canon of science which conflict with their religious beliefs, their jobs or their general outlook.

It is a selective rejection that can be seen in global warming deniers, creationists and the customers of quacks.

Global warming deniers probably don’t deny the basics of meteorology, climatology, oceanic and atmospheric science etc but when 3500 scientists from a range of disciplines say that AGW is real the deniers scream. Usually because they are paid by the energy, automotive or airline companies.

Creationists probably do not have any major arguments with geology, biogeography, molecular biology, zoology, genetics, animal breeders etc up until the time you stick them all together and argue for evolution by natural selection.

To an extent I can understand the AGW deniers – the old word for it is prostitution. I can also sort of understand the creationists – too difficult to understand EBNS, best just go along with goddidit.

What I fail to even begin to understand is the resort to quackery.

I fail to understand how people can accept huge swathes of EBM but then lose all their powers of critical thought, rationality and acceptance of science.

Which is a rather verbose way of suggesting to Tarun that he forgoes the quacks and talks to his (proper) doctor. Doctors are not evil allopaths promoting Big Pharma, killing patients for profit and covering up some cancer panacea. They are the best chance his wife has of recovery or extended life.

What I fail to understand your opinion, please be carefull to Suggesting to Dr Taru acerca Hilu. He is a lier. everybody knows. Why Dr Hilu did not want to give oncotherm to my father, I closed the machine, and the partner had to pick up this, and to install in CMH Clinic in Marbella, my father was looking for it and found it!, We Were to the CMH, my father had the treatment and now my father is Recovering his health. Dr Hilu has jealousy because CMH is competition they make cellular medicine. He is a proud man and thinks only in himself. But we have sick people with us.

I think you are all missing the point on the money end and how government can, on a sick level, be on the side of something that does not work… i.e. chemo. drugs dr.’s hospital stays all cost loads of money and it really does’t matter where the money comes from and what the TAX the system recovers stifles the mind. if you can recall in california the min wage is going up to $15.00 from around $9.00, lots of people think california is doing this because they feel so bad for poor people but the real truth is california is broke and the taxes from this increase will create billions of dollars that were un-taxable because under $12,000 you don’t have to pay tax, it could be up to $15,000 now i haven’t checked in some time. now the ancillary prize to all this is when the business lift their prices the state gets a slice of cash from a different venue. so as you can see, it’s all good!!!
on a side note!
I know, to make this mathematically simple, 100 people that have had cancer and out of that many people i’ve known no one that had tried alternative treatments and out of that many i only know of “two” that have been cured; with of which are from williamsport, pa. in that city my uncle retired at 56 and became bored so he to a job at a funeral home picking up bodies. I once asked him, after he had worked for this company for 20 years, how many people died of cancer out of all the people you retrieve… 95%! that’s also in williamsport, pa.
most people that contract cancer are older and just about to reap the benefits of retirement social security and the like and how beneficial it is to take all the money you have saved just to stay alive. sounds sick but how else can you explain it.
when the polio vaccine was introduced, the second one that is, my mother told me that i would never see another cure of a major disease in my lifetime, she was a nurse and she was also right. it almost bankrupted the entire med industry and remember at that time cancer was 1:7 to day it close to 1:2.9; by the way, cancer death per 1000 haven’t changed since the 1950’s. so all you people that think modern medicine really is changing the world, you’re dreaming.
this is how modern medicine works the numbers.
lets say you and i contract a specific type of cancer on lets say jan 1, 2000. you have money and you get checkups on a regular basis and they discover cancer jan 1 2001. i on the other hand find out i have cancer when i get a pain in the year 2008. the dr. tells me i’m finished and lectures me on the face i should have gotten early detection, i cry and tomorrow’s another day. you on the other hand live another 9 years, your cancer comes back and we both pass in 2010. now the system would have you believe the greatness in early detection, look you lived 8 years longer than your friend. in all actuality we both lived the same amount of time except you spent $250,000 to do it and i spent close to nothing for the same result.
are people being cured with modern medicine, absolutely, are people being cured with quackery, absolutely.
I think the only reason cancer is not being cured right now is two fold. the first being money, dr.’s make money and once you make great money it’s really hard to go back to digging ditches. the second being it’s hard to cure cancer with a drug that works as long as you have to take it the rest of your life at $5000.00 a week…. there’s the rub!
in 1995 my mother died from who knows what but it was not cancer. my father on the other hand had colon and prostate cancer and was on his last leg. getting back in the limo my sister turned on the radio to cut the tension and i heard a american cancer commercial that i had heard tens of thousands of times before, “were the american cancer society and we are working on better treatments all the time. for some reason it hit me, why are they working on treatments and not cures. So that night i wrote them a little three page letter asking them why they were working on treatments and not a cure; i never heard that phrase again to this day. in short, look up who and when the AMC started and it’s credo… to control cancer is what it was, never to cure cancer. don’t take my word, look it up yourself. look at the holdings the ACS has acquired in close to 100 years. they now say that they should’ve a cure in 100 years… AUFKM!!! don’t be afraid of death, the faster we cut the cash out of this equation the faster a real cure will show up. oh, we make man made viruses all the time and have since 1963, some that eat oil slicks and some that eat the frost catalyst to save produce. we have learned to mark cancer with dies of sorts so why have we never designed a virus to go after those markers and eat the cancer. i’ll tell you why because third world countries are breeding us into extinction and if a cancer cure was ever to be put in place the world as we know it would vanish in 20 years. also remember dr.’s are not research scientist, they believe what they are told by the machine and have no other way to tell if they are being had or not. if you come up with a cure for cancer the ama, backed by the ACS would block you till your dying day in testing. hospitals are growing by leaps and bounds but the death rate is still the same and if that doesn’t strike a cord then you already have a brain tumor.

I find this side actually quite hilarious , we have a similar site in the Netherlands, what I find interesting is that lots of results in the holistic field are very well documented and with little research even I can dig up data on numbers, statistics etc.
The funny thing is that most antiquaks are people who made it their live mission to be against and not look unbiased at data. this is very unscientific and amateuristic, you have to be willing to look at all the data! well, at least it gives them something to do. out of the 6 most active, 5 don’t have a job.

Pharmaceutical medical doctors do not cure people, nor do they practice healing or health. They prescribe (toxic) drugs with side effects that hurt more than they harm. More than 500,000 people die at the hands of medical doctors in the USA EACH YEAR. 98 percent of all pharmaceutical drugs are derived from nature. Because you cannot patent anything found in nature, the components are synthesized and patented. Just because a patient died of cancer after choosing to receive a treatment other than carcinogenic chemotherapy and radiation isn’t the fault of the patient or their choices. Nor is it a definitive statement that the attending doctor is a quack. What is quackery is giving sick people poison and giving well people poison which is what pharmaceutical medical doctors do routinely. That doctors get rich from people being sick is the quackery. Options other than toxic drugs are sustainable and health making. If you wait till you are very sick and then get cancer, there is a chance you will die from that sickness. And if you choose to get radiated or chemotherapy you have a high chance to die from those treatments. They are what make you sicker.

I for one am grateful that FINALLY (after being annihilated in mid century) herbalists, nutritionists, naturopaths, etc. are able to practice health and help people be healthy and happy. All of our bodies die.

I agree having a GBM Iv diagnosis 12 months ago and I wish I HAD SEEN ttac DOCUMENTARIES immediately and not 3 months ago. Check it out. Yes there are alternative clinics that are frauds but not all or most Meanwhile those that trust official medicine are ill informed or have you not heard of tobacco science aspartame science etc Don’t believe in conspiracies visit waNTTOKNOW.INFO It uses MSM sources to show conspiracy reality. The real quacks are those complied by law to prescribe Nazi inspired chemo (average cost atleast $80k

Dear Blogger! I appreciated reading your post as it got me questioning some of the alternative therapies. In light of your view in the article and other articles, I was wondering what would you recommend people diagnosed with cancer do? Is it to go follow what the Medical Doctor advises and do the chemo/radiation/surgery or do you think there are viable alternatives too?

You people, I know you only too well, and I say, all this rubbish you talk, is exactly what your microworld is full of. No friends and no family, one can truly understand the problem. I pity you, and pray to God or the Universe, or whatever is out there that can relieve you from all this constipation, to take you, soon ,, so that we do not have to put with all that stinch, for much longer!

I have watched the entire The Truth about Cancer series and I was very interested in Dr Hilu in Episode 7. Both my parents died from cancer and were not cure by chemo or radio therapy, but the opposite… Chemo killed them. I have been researching alternative medicine rather than big pharma profit making poisoning. I am going to meet with Dr Hilu in Spain in July 2016 as I am very interested in what his clinic does. I am willing to try something different as I don’t have much faith in “conventional” medicine. I’ll let you know how I get on! I’m going with an open mind.. yes it will cost me money, but so does life. Don’t knock alternative medicine & label as “quack” as often it is a very good thing and a great alternative. I refuse to be brainwashed by society that big pharma is the only way. I will make my own choices and thank goodness for alternative therapies.

Lets assume that our goverments and pharma industry are committed to innovation in the objective evidence based prevention, treatment and healing of cancer, why can’t we have a respectful and sensible dialogue between those labelled ‘coventional’ and those labelled ‘alternative’?, what would need to happen to encourage this?, who most benefits from the dismissing of each other?, those with cancer certainly don’t, and if you believe the statistics there are going to be alot of people who suffer from cancer. I think we need to start lobbying goverment to foster this dialogue for the good of humankind.

Hi Andy, is your position that everyone practicing ‘alternative’ approaches would respond in this way and not be open to a sensible, fair and honest dialogue?. In the UK there is a great example of a innovation in the mental health field using an alternative approach to the current conventional treatment of early onset psychosis. The Open Dialogue approach to the treatment of early onset psychosis has a much lower use of psychiatric medication than the current NHS NICE guidelines and there is currently a national NHS trial being run in several NHS trusts comparing the two approaches on key factors such as rate of recovery and relapse rates. The trial is designed to be evidence based hence the Open Dialogue approach has not responded with a ‘wah wah Pharma is trying to oppress me’. The whole point of the trial is not a coventional vs alternative war but to innovate in the treatment of early onset psychosis using the wisdoms from both. Do other people out there have more examples of where conventional and alternative are collaborating?. I think that we need to find ways where we can foster collaboration between the best of conventional and alternative approaches

You do not specify what alternative means in this case. I write about superstitious and pseudoscientific health beliefs. There is no merit in trying to ‘collaborate’ between science and pseudoscience, between evidence and superstition. It is like mixing apple pie and cow pie. You just end up ruining a good pie.

Hi Andy, who determines what is scientific and what is pseudoscientific?, there are many examples throughout medical history where the scientific knowledge of the day was not adequate or did not measure/understand enough e.g. Thalidomide, what sort of science was that?, and yes there are many instances where claims cannot be substantiated from practitioners who offer treatments outside of conventional treatment protocols. We actually don’t know what could come from sensible and honest practitioners from all areas of health care collaborating because more energy and focus is put on dismissing and labelling each other

First, let’s get one thing out of the way. The problems associated with Thalidomide were discovered by good science in the face of poor regulatory control and vested financial interests. This is an interesting topic in its own right, but is not pseudoscience. Psuedosciece is a different beast where the behaviour, style and language of people is that of science – but essential elements are missing, usually based around the adherence to evidence, basing claims on sound foundations and willingness to adopt to falsification.

Homeopathy, for example, falls firmly into this class. It is based on incoherent hypotheses that are contradicted to well established results of science (like atomic theory) and refuses to expose itself to tests that would falsify it. Acupuncture is based on pre-scientific vitalistic ideas, as is chiropractic. When sound and fair trials are done on all these ideas, they fail – yet adherents cling to their beleifs and do not move on. Practitioners do not base their clinical practice on the result of fair trials but on dogma and revelation.

It is important to recognise these practices as pseudoscientific as it helps people make informed choices. If claims cannot be substantiated then the treatments may do more harm than good. That practitioners of alternative medicine feel no need to base their claims on sound scientific research makes them unethical and incompetent and as such they should play no role in healthcare.

Hi Andy, you make your position very clear. I agree with you that vested financial interests is often at the cause of damaging side affects. You feel that the entire fields of Homeopathy, Accupuncture and Chiropractic have nothing to offer anyone other than potentially doing more harm than good.

Indeed, Homeopathy, Acupuncture and Chiropractic each have no founding in science but instead in mysticism, pre-scientific superstitious beliefs and pseudoscience. There is no good and coherent evidence that any of them can successfully treat any condition. In addition, risks are associated with each of them, for the most part delay or avoidance of effective treatment. With chiropractic there is evidence of risk of death from stroke.

All should be avoided. We have nothing to learn from them but caution against extravagant claims.

We are speaking about Dr. Hilu as a doctor…And he his not.
I am therapist and never,never could invent I am a doctor, as he is doing with patients. In spain everybody know it, he is a liar. Hilu is in the courts, struggling with many problems because he is a false doctor. We can help to many peoople with our therapies, diets, suplements,but never make to believe we are who we are not. People thinks are in the best hands because he is an therapist “with a medical title”, but he is not.

Ah, someone who ‘knows’. Are you sure it is not just a belief? Knowledge is something different. It is backed by evidence. And not just the personal interpretations of your experiences. So, if you ‘know’, perhaps you can share the peer-reviewed systematic analysis of the evidence base for the Budwig diet that turned your belief into knowledge.

I present you with two treatment options for metastatic breast cancer:

Treatment A
– is derived from the extract from the bark of a tree
– works by destroying cancer cells, as well as healthy cells
– can cause nausea, vomiting and fatigue
– can occasionally cause numbness in extremities
– has shown overwhelmingly positive results in several large, randomised Phase I, II and III trials of patients with metastatic breast cancer, including some who went into complete remission

Treatment B
– involves the use of microwaves, probes and MRI scans
– works by destroying cancer cells, as well as healthy cells
– can cause nausea, vomiting and fatigue
– can occasionally cause blisters and burns
– has shown moderately positive results in a few small studies of patients with bladder cancer

Which treatment seems more promising? Which seems safer? More “natural”?

Treatment B is whole-body hyperthermia, a treatment which kills cancer cells by effectively overheating the body, thus causing cell death. Treatment A is paclitaxel – in other words, chemotherapy. Isn’t it strange how people instantly mistrust a conventional treatment, while gladly embracing one which is not?

This is a laughable article. So there is one upset family who lost someone to cancer and now the entire treatment facility is “quackery?” Have you any idea how many people who go through TRADITIONAL forms of chemotherapy treatment and radiation also die? And how much more wildly expensive chemo and radiation treatments are? Try $250,000, which is the ballpark figure my father’s chemo & radiation cost. And guess what? He died! So to attest that $10,000 Euros and one (or even many) unsatistied clients are let down as proof that the whole operation is unfounded is the actual quackery. How about a follow up article about the thousand of patients who go broke and die after using western, modern chemo treatments. YOU ARE A FUCKING DICK! AND AN IDIOT!

People only go broke for healthcare in the USA. It does not happen in the civilised world. Hundreds of thousands of people go bankrupt in the US every year due to healthcare costs. No-one does in the UK, for example.

This clinic uses quack methods that have no evidence they can be effective. Of course real treatments do not work for everyone. But that does not mean they can help some people. Quackery helps nobody.

Your conclusion, because one patient died, that it is nothing but quackery is not statistically valid. It is true that when ‘traditional’ medicine has no answers, people become easy prey for snake oil salesman. The Hilu and Burzynski Vlinics, while much maligned by the establishment, do have quite a track record of success, which become more impressive when one realizes that they mostly get cases classified as terminal. We are patients of both clinics and the ‘out of control, terminal cancer’ we are dealing with is disappearing before pur eyes. chances are still against us in the long run, but the progression we were told to expect is not happening. You spoke of expense, but the cost is far less than one infusion of chemo and includes multiple procedures and services. The problem is that the procedures have not received the scientific study needed, because there is not enough potential profit in them for a commercial medical operation to under take than. These studies need to be underwritten by governments and need to use the practical experiences of place like the Hilu Clinic in baselining the studies. Until then, inexpensive, low invasive, treatments will be relegated to last hope type of. limits. Many of these procedures could easily and effectively be implemented into the ‘standard’ chemo based treatments to supplements effectivity but doctors are too close minded and threatened to put truly put the patient first.